North Atlantic Run: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle for the Convoys

E.T. Sharp specialized in military history and disarmament and lived in Toronto.

North Atlantic Run provides a detailed operational account of the Canadian naval contribution to convoy defence during World War II. Previous histories have focused either on the strategic leadership of the navy based in Ottawa or on individual convoy battles. Although Milner includes analysis of several key battles, he focuses his study on the role of the St. John’s-based Newfoundland Escort Force, the frontline Canadian naval unit. Milner does not ignore the inadequacies and failures of the Canadian escort groups but shows how these problems were all but inevitable, given the critical shortages of modern equipment and trained personnel that resulted from the explosive expansion of the R.C.N. during the first three years of the war. North Atlantic Run is the first history of the Canadian contribution to this campaign that uses the recent disclosures of the extent of allied code-breaking successes. This is a fascinating and timely contribution to Canadian naval history.